The most powerful piece on the chessboard is the lone female, the queen.

Yet when you consider the most powerful chess players throughout history, the names Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer come to mind.

Traditionally, chess has been a guy’s game, especially at the high school level. But that’s changing dramatically at Richards High School in Oak Lawn, where the best player on this year’s team is a girl.

Remarkable as that may be, her coach said the girl’s legacy won’t end with her impressive number of wins. Coach Manuel Montes said Aminah Garcia also has changed the face of the game, convincing girls of all ages to take up the mental challenge and to join the team.

The result has been amazing. The team is well on its way to its 13th state title. That won’t be determined until January, though.

Meanwhile, if all goes according to plan this weekend, Richards will become the first school in Illinois history to put up an all-female, eight-board chess team during a tournament at Community High School in West Chicago, according to Montes. Montes, who has taken the Richards team to 12 consecutive state titles, said he expects the girls team to play hard and do well.

“I know for sure they’ll have fun; the girls always have fun,” he said.

In some ways, the girls have more fun than the boys, he said.

“Guys take losing much harder,” he said. “It seems to bounce off the girls more easily. Chess just seems to be more fun for them.”

So why have there always been more boy players than girls? Montes said he’s not sure.

“This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing to have this many girls on a team,” he said.

When Aminah joined the chess team as a freshman, she was the only female. Her older brother, also an amazing player, convinced her to give the team a try. She liked it and made a vow to convince more girls to join. Now, in her senior year, the team of 24 is split evenly along gender lines. [That is absolutely amazing - a 50/50 ratio!!!!]

“Most chess teams have 7 percent or less girls,” Aminah, 17, said. “No team has ever had 12 like this team.”

Montes said girls tend to prefer to move in more social circles, opting for activities such as drama, sports and clubs that offer a lot of social interaction. Chess is an individual’s game. Or so everyone thought. The female players at Richards have transformed the chess team into a more spirited, social club. That attracted more girls. Not only is Aminah one of the best players in the south suburbs, Montes said, she’s a charismatic leader.

“She has a great personality,” Montes said. “Other girls are drawn to her; they want to be around her.”

Jessica Zavala is one of those girls. The senior, a resident of Oak Lawn, will turn 18 on Saturday. Winning all her games would be the perfect birthday gift. Jessica learned how to play from watching Aminah and her older brother, Imtiaz, now 19, face off over lunch in the cafeteria.

“I’d go to their table to watch them. Then I started getting into it,” Jessica said.

Now she loves the game. “It’s amazing. I never get tired of it,” she said.

She also likes the camaraderie the girls provide each other. “We scream and chant; the guys think it’s funny,” she said.

Kristina Huggins, a senior, has been on the team for two years.

“I’m really going to miss this when I graduate,” she said. “The team is like a family.”

Montes said there’s a myth that a person has to be intellectually gifted to be a good player. “That’s not true. We’ve had AP (advanced placement) kids and special-ed kids on the team, all of them successful,” he said. More important than brains, he said, is a sense of dedication, a willingness to work hard.

Junior Mariel Rancel teaches grade school kids how to play on Wednesdays at the Oak Lawn Public Library. “I see these little kids, so patient and so serious. They can play for hours,” Mariel said. “No matter who you are, there’s always an opportunity on the board.”

Most of the players learned the game from a family member. When Aminah and her brother were little, their parents took them to the library and checked out a bunch of books on how to play. They’ve been playing ever since.

Beth Edmonds, a senior, has participated in all kinds of extracurriculars, including science club, cheerleading and Spanish club.

“I like being on the chess team because I think we’re cooler than the rest of the school, because we’re underdogs. There aren’t many girls playing chess these days,” she said.

Friday, November 16, 2012

HOLY CAISSA!
Hou Yifan crashes and burns! Monika Socko, who earned her GM title the traditional way, is knocking off all comers INCLUDING HOU and is on fire, but will these play-off games take a toll?

Maybe not!!! Irina Krush advanced into R3 after battling through a second straight play-off (she also battled through a play-off in R1), whomping veteran GM Pia Cramling, who also earned her title the traditional way. Krush was taking no prisoners today.

Some favorites have been eliminated; indeed, if they're betting on this in Las Vegas, the odds have no doubt gone absolutely nut-so after elimination of the favorites (Hou and Koneru, among others). WOW! One American is left (Krush) -- Anna Zatonskih battled Ju Wenjun for FOUR play-off games, trying to find a way to advance. She couldn't. She goes home bruised and battered, but I hope she feels good about herself. She fought her heart out! This sure is turning into one damn interesting Women's World Championship, woo woo!

Results from R2 play-offs. Players advancing are in bold, Americans in red.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Koneru Humpy is OUT! Hou Yifan LOST and has to go to a play-off tomorrow. Maybe the world is going to end on December 21, 2012 after all... Players going through to R3 are in bold, Americans in red. USA's Irina Krush goes into her second play-off round tomorrow; Anna Zatonskih goes into her first play-off. A lot of play-offs tomorrow, wooo wooo, this is getting good!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

[Excerpted] REPAUPO, N.J. – A rare and important chess table designed by Isamu Noguchi for Herman Miller in the 1940s and discovered by a contractor renovating a home outside Newark, sold for $109,250 at an estates sale Oct. 22 conducted by S&S Auction Inc.

“The contractor found the table – in sections,” said Glenn Sweeney of S&S Auction Inc. “Someone suggested he bring it to our auction, which he did, along with four other modern pieces. He had no idea of the table's importance until he saw it featured on the home page of our website. In the end, a buyer in Los Angeles purchased it for $95,000, plus the buyer's premium.”

The original design for the table was made in 1944 for the Imagery of Chess exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York City. There, it was lauded as “the most beautiful piece in the show.” In 1947, designer George Nelson convinced Herman Miller to commercially produce the table, but in limited quantities. Only about eight of this particular table are known to exist.

The table was by far the top lot in a two-session auction that featured uncataloged items in the daytime and cataloged lots in the evening. The table sold in the evening session, along with 232 other lots, most of which were fresh-to-the-market items pulled from prominent estates and local collections. Over the course of a long day, around 500 people attended the auction live.

In addition, more than 250 people registered to bid online, through LiveAuctioneers.com, and phone and absentee bids were brisk at both sessions. Most lots were sold via the phone and the Internet.

“The table helped make a good sale a great sale,” Sweeney remarked, “with healthy prices realized for many of the better items proving the upper end of the market remains strong.”

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No mention of how the contractor managed to take the table (and the other items) -- with or without the owner's consent? In lieu of pay? Because the owners were stupid and said haul away that shit? Also, no mention of how the table was restored (it came in "sections," after all, something had to be done to put it back together, or was it just like a jig-saw puzzle?) or how much any restoration work cost.

Please read this news article all the way through. Have YOU ever heard of a 17 week old fetus surviving outside of the womb? Do the math - that's one week over 4 months, give or take a few days;. I sure haven't. This mother, who was probably not a practicing Roman Catholic, was SACRIFICED IN THE NAME OF RELIGIOUS PURITY. It's disgusting, absolutely disgusting that in this day and age, in a western so-called "civilized" country, this sort of thing is still allowed to take place. I hope all of the people responsible for this mother's death ROT IN HELL FOREVER AND EVER pursuant to their very own belief system, because they deliberately took an innocent life by their inaction. And, no doubt, they're all congratulating themselves right now on how PIOUS they all are for doing so. No different than the Taliban. They pray to the same god by a different name, the same blood-sucking god who demands the blood of innocent children and women every year to satisfy his blood-lust.

The death of Savita Halappanavar must be the subject of an independent public inquiry, according to a Galway-based surgeon who is a close friend of the 31-year-old woman and her husband Praveen.

Dr CVR Prasad, an orthopaedic surgeon at Merlin Park Hospital in Galway, said such an inquiry must be taken out of the hands of the Health Service Executive or University Hospital Galway.

The Government is not ruling out an independent inquiry into the tragic death of Ms Halappanavar, who presented on October 21st with back pain at Galway University Hospital where she was found to be miscarrying at 17 weeks. She died of septicaemia on October 28th.

Her husband, an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, had described how she asked several times over a three-day period that the pregnancy be terminated, given that she was in pain and was miscarrying. He said the request was refused by medical staff who said they could not do anything because there was still a foetal heartbeat. He said they were told that this was the law and that “this is a Catholic country”.

He said she spent more than three days “in agony” until the foetal heartbeat stopped. The dead foetus was removed, but Ms Halappanavar’s condition deteriorated and she died.

The HSE said last night an independent external expert in obstetrics and gynaecology would be appointed to strengthen the incident management team it has asked to investigate the circumstances of Ms Halappanavar’s death.Next of kin

The terms of reference for this review and the members of the team were currently being finalised, a spokeswoman said. The team would liaise with Mr Halappanavar as next of kin.

“The process of incident review seeks to ascertain the facts relating to the incident, draw conclusions and make recommendations in relation to any steps that may need to be taken to prevent a similar incident occurring again.” She extended the HSE’s deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Ms Halappanavar. Both the hospital and the HSE said they would not be commenting on the circumstances of the case.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny did not rule out an independent inquiry when it was suggested by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. He said it was appropriate for Dr Reilly to first receive the reports of the hospital and the HSE.

The case, which attracted worldwide media attention yesterday, has increased pressure on the Government to legislate for the implications of the X case 20 years ago.

Dr Prasad, who visited Ms Halappanavar in hospital before she died, said: “Any inquiry should be public. That is the way it should be, it should not be conducted by the HSE or the hospital. It should be independent.I hope that might save the life of another women. This should never happen to another woman. Religion and medicine should never mix.” [Indeed, do not doctors take a solemn oath - with no exceptions for religious beliefs? This is disgusting, sickening, that ANY doctor would allow this to happen.]

Mr Halappanavar yesterday repeated his belief that his wife would not have died if she had been given the termination that the couple repeatedly asked for in the hospital. Asked whether he thought things could have turned out differently if a termination had been carried out, he said: “Yes of course.”

Speaking to The Irish Times from Belgaum in southwestern India, his wife’s home region, he said Ireland’s reputation for being a “good place to have a baby” was among the factors in their decision to start a family here. “All our friends had great stories to tell about the babies they had in Ireland. So we decided we’d go there. We had heard Ireland was a good place to have a baby. Most of our friends there had babies there and they’re all fine and so we decided: have a baby in Ireland.”

A postmortem has been carried out on Ms Halappanavar and the coroner has been notified. [Right, so the post-mortem and any inquest will be carried out by rabid Irish Roman Catholics looking to cover their asses from potential civil liability. That's justice for you, for sure, mourning husband, ha!] The couple came to Ireland in 2008. She had a dental post in Westport, Co Mayo.

Several hundred people gathered at Leinster House last night to demonstrate in favour of abortion legislation, while candle-lit vigils were held in Cork, Limerick and London. Further protests are planned in Dublin, Limerick, Belfast and Galway in coming days.

Minister for Health Dr James Reilly said it would be an extremely serious matter if there had been any hesitation in relation to Ms Halappanavar because of moral or religious beliefs. However, he said he had no evidence of the application of a Catholic bias in relation to treatment and he warned against prejudging the circumstances surrounding the death.

Dr Reilly said it was a terrible tragedy for the family involved. For the staff involved, it was an emotionally traumatic time and they were entitled to due process.

Speaking in the Dáil, he said he had asked his officials to consider the report of the expert group on abortion, which had been submitted to his department on Tuesday.Deeply tragic

Independent Senator Ronan Mullen described the case as deeply tragic but said it should not be “used as a wedge by abortion campaigners.”

He added: “Its regrettable that some people are seeking to use this tragedy as an argument for legislating for the Supreme Court decision in the X case”. [Oh yeah, dude, I believe it is safe to say you didn't give a jack shit about the woman who was suffering through a miscarriage gone wrong, who was allowed to die by doctors sworn to protect and preserve life no matter what except for the a religious belief -- but the Physician's Oath does not allow for this kind of exception. So what kind of doctors do you actually allow to practice medicine in your country, where they can pick and choose which women they'll allow to live? YOU TREAT YOUR CATTLE BETTER.]

Two years ago, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland had failed to provide for abortion in circumstances where the mother’s life is at risk. The decision means Ireland has to legislate but Dr Reilly is facing resistance from within Fine Gael to any liberalisation of the laws on abortion.

Other Sports, Posted on Nov 14, 2012 at 10:52pm
ISTKhanty Mansiysk: Top-rated Grandmaster Koneru Humpy suffered a shock
defeat at the hands of Natalia Zhukova of Ukraine in the first game of the
second round of world women's chess championship here on Wednesdat.

It turned out to be a bad day in office for the highest rated girl in the
fray as she could not find her rhythm and now finds herself in a must-win
situation with black pieces in the return game to stay in the knockout
championship.

While Humpy faces ouster threat, the other remaining Indian Grandmaster D
Harika made early inroads to the pre-quarterfinals defeating Elina Danielian of
Armenia in her first game of the second round.

At the top of the tables, defending champion Yifan Hou of China remained on
course for third round appearance with an easy victory over experienced Monika
Socko of Poland. The 18-year old Chinese was a picture of confidence as she
thwarted the attempts for complications by Socko and recorded a smooth victory
with black pieces.

Veteran Grandmaster Pia Cramling of Sweden also won her game at the expense
of Irina Krush of United States and is now sitting pretty along with the other
first game winners Zhao Xue of China and Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine.

Humpy faced the Tarrasch defense against Zhukova and it was not surprising as
the Ukrainian's husband is a renowned expert of the variation. Surprisingly
enough, the players spent some time in the opening although much of the game was
theoretical.

Humpy felt the heat on the 22nd move when a correct move would have held the
position together and already it existed as a game had been played till that
position. It was clear from here that the opening surprise by Zhukova had paid
off well as the Indian continued to struggle even as there were mutual mistakes
in the remainder of the game.

Humpy now has a daunting task on hand as she needs a victory with black
pieces. Zhukova showed her depth in preparation in the first game and the Indian
will have to somehow get a playable position in the return game and look for a
fight till the end.

Harika played a highly inspirational game to get the better of Danielian.
Side-stepping in the Benoni defense as white was a success for the Indian,
Danielian fell in a prolonged tactical battle wherein pieces flew off the board
almost in a frenzy. When the dust subsided, Harika had two extra pawns and it
was over in just 33 moves.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

The idea that curvaceous figurines are prehistoric pornography is an excuse to legitimise modern behaviour as having ancient roots, says archaeologist April Nowell

"Lady of Villners-Carbonnel", 2011.

Which Palaeolithic images and artefacts have been described as pornography?

The Venus figurines of women, some with exaggerated anatomical features, and ancient rock art, like the image from the Abri Castanet site in France that is supposedly of female genitalia.

You take issue with this interpretation. Who is responsible for spreading it, journalists or scientists?

People are fascinated by prehistory, and the media want to write stories that attract readers - to use a cliché, sex sells. But when a New York Times headline reads "A Precursor to Playboy: Graphic Images in Rock", and Discover magazine asserts that man's obsession with pornography dates back to "Cro-Magnon days" based on "the famous 26,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf statuette...[with] GG-cup breasts and a hippopotamal butt", I think a line is crossed. To be fair, archaeologists are partially responsible - we need to choose our words carefully.

Having studied Upper Palaeolithic figurines closely, what did you find?

They are incredibly varied beyond the few figurines seen over and over again: the Venus of Hohle Fels, the Venus of Willendorf and the Venus of Dolní Veˇstonice. Some are male, some are female; some are human, some are animals or fantastical creatures; some wear items of clothing, others do not. A recent study by my doctoral student Allison Tripp and her colleague Naomi Schmidt demonstrated that the body shapes of female figurines from around 25,000 years ago correspond to women at many different stages of life; they're a variety of shapes and sizes. All of this suggests that there are multiple interpretations.

Aren't other interpretations of palaeo-art just as speculative as calling them pornographic?

Yes, but when we interpret Palaeolithic art more broadly, we talk about "hunting magic" or "religion" or "fertility magic." I don't think these interpretations have the same social ramifications as pornography. When respected journals - Nature for example - use terms such as "Prehistoric pin-up" and "35,000-year-old sex object", and a German museum proclaims that a figurine is either an "earth mother or pin-up girl" (as if no other roles for women could have existed in prehistory), they carry weight and authority. This allows journalists and researchers, evolutionary psychologists in particular, to legitimise and naturalise contemporary western values and behaviours by tracing them back to the "mist of prehistory".

Will we ever understand what ancient art really means?

The French, in particular, are doing incredible work analysing paint recipes and tracing the movement of the ancient artists as they painted. We may never have the knowledge to say, "This painting of a bison meant this", but I am confident that a detailed study of the corpus of ice age imagery, including the figurines, will give us a window on to the "lived life" in the Palaeolithic.

Profile

April Nowell is a Palaeolithic archaeologist at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Her paper "Pornography is in the eye of the beholder: Sex, sexuality and sexism in the study of Upper Paleolithic figurines", co-authored with Melanie Chang, will appear next year.

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Well, she may well be correct with respect to some of the figurines and representations found over the years; but then again, it's hard to dismiss the so-called of "Lady of Villners-Carbonnel" (photograph from a 2011 article) as something other than a representation of a very impressive woman, indeed. Now, was she a fertility figure? Was she meant to be a Mother Goddess? Was she an icon of a powerful female shamanic figure? Was she a representation of a female clan leader? Who knows? I do not agree with calling this kind of art "pornographic" but certainly it was a very important part of prehistoric humans' legacy to us today and until we can uncover thousands of figurines such as this one, as well as male and animal representations, I think the lady dost protest a wee bit too much.

Let's wait and see what we find in the future, what dating tells us, what our own eyes tell us, what context tells us (if anything), and for now, let's just enjoy and marvel at the unique and wonderful beauty of each and every one of these pieces that have been found. Imagine surviving 5,000 years? Imagine surviving 25,000 years? Maybe I'm being totally lame-o here, but I do not think that so many figurines of female figures survived BY ACCIDENT. Just saying...

A group of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered the first scientific evidence of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians in the remains of ancient Scythian warriors living over 2,000 years ago in the Altai region of Mongolia. Contrary to what was believed until now, the results published in PLoS ONE indicate that this blending was not due to an eastward migration of Europeans, but to a demographic expansion of local Central Asian populations, thanks to the technological improvements the Scythian culture brought with them.

The Altai is a mountain range in Central Asia occupying territories of Russia and Kazakhstan to the west and of Mongolia and China to the east. Historically, the Central Asian steppes have been a corridor for Asian and European populations, resulting in the region's large diversity in population today. In ancient times however the Altai Mountains, located in the middle of the steppes, represented an important barrier for the coexistence and mixture of the populations living on each side. And so they lived isolated during millennia: Europeans on the western side and Asians on the eastern side.

The research conducted by researchers from the UAB, the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC) sheds new light on when and how this Eurasian genetic blending took place.

At the UAB palaeogenetic laboratory researchers analysed mitochondrial DNA (inherited from the mother, it allows us to trace our ancestors) extracted from the bones and teeth of 19 skeletons from the Bronze Age (7th to 10th century BCE) and from the Iron Age (2nd to 7th century BCE) from the Mongolian Altai Mountains. The remains were extracted from the tombs discovered seven years ago, in which the skeletons of Scythian warriors were discovered and which represented the first scientific evidence of this culture in East Asia.

The results obtained demonstrate that the population from the Iron Age, corresponding to the time when the Scythian culture resided in the Altai Mountains, had a perfect blend (50%) of European and Asian mitochondrial DNA lineages or sequences. The discovery is relevant, taking into account that previous populations showed no signs of lineage mixture: the DNA analysed in the tombs located in Russia and Kazakhstan belong to European lineages, whereas DNA from the eastern part, in Mongolia, contain Asian lineages.

"The results provide exceptionally valuable information about how and when the population diversity found today in Central Asian steppes appeared. They point to the possibility that this occurred in Altai over 2,000 years ago between the local population on both sides of the mountain range, coinciding with the expansion of the Scythian culture, which came from the west", explains Assumpció Malgosa, professor of Biological Anthropology at UAB and coordinator of the research.

One of the Scythian tombs discovered in the Altai Mountains on the Mongolian side. Source.

Studies conducted until now on ancient DNA samples from the Altai region already indicated that the Scythians were the first large population to be a mixture between Europeans and Asians. However, the only populations to be studied were those on the western part of the Eurasian steppes, suggesting that this mixture was due to population migrations from Europe to the east.

The current research is the first to offer scientific evidence of this population mixture on the eastern side of the Altai and indicates that the contact between European and Asian lineages occurred before the Iron Age when populations were present on both sides of the mountain. The study suggests that the Asian population adopted the Scythian culture, technologically and socially more advanced, and this made them improve demographically by favouring their expansion and contact with Europeans.

The idea poses a new hypothesis on the origin of today's population diversity in Central Asia and allows for a better understanding of the demographic processes which took place. Frozen Scythian Warrior Tombs

From 2005 to 2007, UAB researchers worked jointly with French and Mongolian researchers in a European project to excavate Scythian tombs in Mongolia's Altai Mountains. In the three excavation campaigns carried out over twenty tombs were excavated. Many of them were frozen and contained mummified human remains of warriors buried with their possessions and horses. This was the first time Scythian warrior tombs had been discovered in Mongolia, since all other tombs previously found had been located on the western side of Altai.

The Scythians were an Indo-European people dedicated to nomadic pasturing and horse breeding. They crossed the Eurasian steppes from the Caspian Sea until reaching the Altai Mountains during the 2nd and 7th century BCE. The Scythians are known most of all thanks to ancient texts written by the Greek historian Herodotus.

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The photograph above accompanied the press release, and I find it particularly poignant because it contains what looks like the remains of a woman, a man, a horse, and an infant. Was it a family? Were the woman and infant sacrificed to accompany the man? Were the man and infant sacrificed to accompany the woman? Did the family die of some dread disease? What is the story behind this burial? If one family member died, was the entire family sacrificed accompany the deceased to the Land of No Return, including the horse?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Khanty Mansiysk, Russia: Koneru Humpy effortlessly defeated Denise Frick of South Africa while D Harika
outplayed compatriot Soumya Swaminathan to move to the second round of the World
Women's chess championship, here.

GM Koneru Humpy at Mansky Kamsky (where?)

Having had to sweat a little in the first game of the first round, Humpy was
terrific in the return game and scored an easy victory to see herself through to
the round of 32 in the knockout championship.

Harika was not far behind
but of course it was hard work for her against Soumya Swaminathan who will now
have to return home.

The other higher-ranked players also cruised to the
second round and topping the list was reigning world champion Yifan Hou of China
who scored easily over Sachini Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka.

The Sub-continent
girl had missed her flight and reached here only thanks to some deft planning at
the last minute but the match against Yifan turned out to be one
sided.

Amongst the fancied, Ju Wenjun of China was the only exception as
she suffered a reversal against Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and the two will now
battle it out in the tie-break games of shorter duration.

Apart from
Humpy and Yifan Hao, Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, Zhao Xue of China, Pia Crampling
of Sweden, Nadezhda Kosintseva and Valentina Gunina of Russia, Kateryna Lahno of
Ukraine and former champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria also completed a 2-0
white wash against respective opponents.

Humpy faced the Slav defense and
stuck to basics in the opening to get tangible advantage. As the Indian girl
posted her knight in the center, Denise blundered a couple of pawns and was
never in the game. Humpy finished the proceedings in just 26 moves.

Harika made use of her white pieces to good effect against Soumya in an
English opening game. After attaining a playable position in the middle game,
Soumya went wrong with an erroneous plan and handed Harika initiative.

By
simply improving her position, Harika caused some damage to black and Soumya ran
short of time before making the decisive error. The game lasted 33
moves.

The USD 450000 prize money Championship will be reduced to 32
players from 64 in the next round and more fighting matches will ensue in the
rounds to come. Those who return home after the first round will be richer by
USD 3000.

Judit Polgar is a phenomenon. She is not just the best woman chess player of all time; she is the best by a mile. Chess grandmasters (note master! – traditionally, chess barely recognised the existence of women) have official ratings. Polgar is the only woman in the world's top 100; at her peak, and before she had two children, she was in the top 10.

In December she will pay a rare visit to the UK for the London Chess Classic and do what she has always done – play as the lone woman against eight top male players, including world champion Vishy Anand and world No 1 Magnus Carlsen. Aggressive at the board and now getting back to her best after a mid-career slump when her results were poor following the birth of her second child in 2006, she will give as good as she gets.

Does it feel odd to be playing against a field of men? "For me it is very natural," she says. "I started when I was five, and grew up playing against adults and against men most of the time." She never accepted the path many leading female players take, competing in separate women's events and aiming at the women's world title. She took on all-comers from an early age, became the then youngest ever grandmaster (male or female) at the age of 15, and didn't bother competing for the women's world championship because she could have won it in her sleep. She simply aimed to be the best in the world, regardless of gender.

Polgar, who was born in Budapest, is one of three chess-playing sisters. The eldest, Susan, was women's world champion; the middle sister, Sofia, was an international master; but Judit, hard-working and with an immense will to win, proved the strongest of all. The three were part of a controversial experiment conducted by their teacher father Laszlo, whose contention was that "geniuses are not born, but made". He taught his daughters at home – the curriculum included Esperanto – and drilled chess into them from an early age.

"I grew up in a very special atmosphere," she says. "Everything was about chess. I learned from my sisters and won my first international competition at nine years old." Did she resent being part of her father's experiment? "In the beginning it was a game. My father and mother are exceptional pedagogues who can motivate and tell it from all different angles. Later, chess for me became a sport, an art, a science, everything together. I was very focused on chess, and happy with that world. I was not the rebelling and going out type. I was happy that at home we were a closed circle and then we went out playing chess and saw the world. It's a very difficult life and you have to be very careful, especially the parents, who need to know the limits of what you can and can't do with your child. My parents spent most of their time with us; they travelled with us [when we played abroad], and were in control of what was going on. With other prodigies it might be different. It is very fragile. But I'm happy that with me and my sisters it didn't turn out in a bad way."

Top chess players can be dysfunctional – think Bobby Fischer, who Polgar knew when he lived in Budapest in the 1990s – but Polgar is relaxed, approachable and alarmingly well balanced. After her 2006-09 slump, she says she worked out how to juggle a career in competitive chess with having two young children, running a chess foundation in Hungary, writing books and developing educational programmes based on chess. "My life is very complex and rich now," she says.

Has she struck a blow for women by showing they can compete with the best men? "There are many guys who say: 'OK, you are an exception, so you prove the rule. Show me the next.' I say: 'Yes, I am so far exceptional, but I don't think I will be the only one in the upcoming decades.'" Women's chess is getting stronger, more girls are playing at a very young age, and strong women players are emerging from China and India. Chess would benefit from an influx of women able to compete with the top men, because it would add spice to a pursuit that struggles for media attention. The first ever world title match between a male and female player would generate huge interest.

Polgar came close to the summit – she was eighth in the tournament to determine the world champion in 2005 – but, at 36, realises that the chance to compete for the world title won't come again. Forty is a watershed for top players, and many start to ease away from serious competition, but she has no thoughts of retiring. "I don't like 'never, never, never'," she says. "I don't think I could ever say that I will never play again, because even if I felt I could never play in top-class tournaments again because I don't have time for the preparation, after a while you might one day think: 'maybe, maybe, maybe … why not?'"

Our Commitment to Chess

Scholarships for Chess Femmes

Our Commitment to Chess

2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Closed Chess Championship

2014 SPONSORSHIPS

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIXApril 12, 2014Milwaukee, WIPrizes for female players in Open and Reserve sections and paid entry to next HCCC for top female finisher in each section. This is Goddesschess' 12th HCCC!

Goddesschess Fighting Spirit Award

2013 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

2013 SPONSORSHIPS

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIIIOctober 12, 2013Milwaukee, WIRecord prize money awarded to chess femmes - $800!In honor of National Chess Day and the one year anniversary of the passing of our webmaster, researcher and writer, Don McLean, additional prizes of $150 were awarded to the top two male finishers in each Section.Milwaukee Summer Challenge IIJune 15 - 16, 2013Milwaukee, WIPrizes for the chess femmes and funding a best game prize

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"Advanced Chess" Leon 2002

About Me

I'm one of the founders of Goddesschess, which went online May 6, 1999. I earned an under-graduate degree in history and economics going to college part-time nights, weekends and summer school while working full-time, and went on to earn a post-graduate degree (J.D.) I love the challenge of research, and spend my spare time reading and writing about my favorite subjects, travelling and working in my gardens. My family and my friends are most important in my life. For the second half of my life, I'm focusing on "doable" things to help local chess initiatives, starting in my own home town. And I'm experiencing a sort of personal "Renaissance" that is leaving me rather breathless...